Key Documents on Abusive Child Labor and Slavery in Cocoa

IITA Report (US Departments of State and Labor/International Labor Organization published research survey documenting the prevalence of abuse)

Voluntary industry initiative to end the worst forms of child labor:

In 2001, after legislation for a mandatory slave-free label passed the House of Representatives, industry instead agreed to voluntarily end the worst forms of child labor in cocoa by July 1, 2005 in the Harkin Engel Protocol.

When industry failed to meet the deadline, it extended the deadline to July, 2008 and committed to ending the worst forms of child labor on only 50% of farms in Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana in this statement.

Evidence that industry is on target to miss the Protocol deadline once again in 2008: This report, commissioned by the US Department of State, shows that industry is on target to miss the deadline again, saying that industry's definition of certification is "a misnomer":

Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer Tulane University.

On February 14, 2008 Christian Parenti reported from the Ivory Coast cocoa fields, in Fortune Magazine: “Today child workers, many under the age of 10, are everywhere”: Chocolate's bittersweet economy

BBC has reported on this situation regularly since the time of the first media exposes: BBC news

In 2010, The Dark Side of Chocolate, a documentary by Miki Misrati and U Roberto Romano, unveiled the continued use of child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa fields: Dark Side of Chocolate

Response by concerned organizations: Global Exchange and other leaders in cocoa industry reform developed the following Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing, which lays out an alternative that will bring real reform and an end to abusive child labor in the cocoa industry:

Momentum is now building for major chocolate brand to start sourcing Fair Trade cocoa beans, following the lead of Fair Trade companies like Equal Exchange, Alter Eco, Divine, Sweet Earth, and Coco-Zen which have long demonstrated that a way to address the child labor problem is already available through Fair Trade. The following mainstream chocolate manufacturers have announced that they will seek to achieve Fair Trade certification: